The first call is not an interview. It is an intake.
When you decide to work with an embedded recruiter, the engagement starts differently than you might expect. There is no long sales cycle, no multi-week onboarding, and no contract negotiation that takes a month. Most embedded recruiting partnerships get started within a week of the first conversation.
But "getting started" does not mean the recruiter shows up and immediately starts blasting messages to candidates. The first phase is about understanding your company well enough to represent it accurately and compellingly. Here is what that looks like.
Week 1: Discovery and alignment
The embedded recruiter spends the first week learning your business. This typically involves:
Understanding your open roles. Not just reading the job descriptions, but talking to the hiring managers about what they actually need. What does the day-to-day work look like? What are the dealbreakers? What skills can be trained versus what needs to be proven? This conversation often reveals that the job description and the actual need are not the same thing.
Learning your culture. The recruiter needs to explain to candidates why they should leave their current job for yours. That requires understanding what is genuinely good about working at your company, and being honest about the challenges too. This is not a marketing exercise. It is about finding the authentic story that resonates with the right candidates.
Auditing your current process. What tools are you using? What does your pipeline look like? How are interviews structured? Where are the bottlenecks? An experienced recruiter can usually identify the biggest process issues within the first few days.
Aligning on logistics. How will you communicate? How often will you sync? What does the decision-making process look like for offers? Getting these logistics right upfront prevents friction later.
Weeks 2 to 3: Pipeline building
With context established, the recruiter starts building your pipeline. This is the phase where things start moving:
Sourcing begins. The recruiter identifies and reaches out to candidates who match your criteria. Expect them to be sourcing 50 to 100+ candidates per role, with the goal of getting 10 to 15 into active conversations.
Screening calls start. The recruiter conducts initial phone screens to assess basic fit before passing candidates to you. This saves you hours because you only talk to candidates who have already been vetted for qualifications, interest, and salary alignment.
You see your first candidates. By the end of week 2 or early in week 3, you should be reviewing profiles and scheduling interviews with screened candidates. This is when the time savings become tangible.
Week 4 and beyond: Steady state
By week 4, the engagement should be in a rhythm. The recruiter is consistently filling the top of your pipeline, candidates are moving through interviews, and you are focused on final evaluations and decisions rather than sourcing and scheduling.
Regular sync meetings. Expect a weekly or biweekly meeting to review pipeline status, discuss feedback on candidates, and adjust strategy if needed. These should be short (15 to 30 minutes) and focused on decisions and priorities.
Data and visibility. A good embedded recruiter provides transparency into the pipeline: how many candidates are at each stage, what the response rates look like, and where any bottlenecks are. This data helps you make better decisions about where to invest your own time.
Offer support. When you find the right candidate, the recruiter helps with offer strategy, negotiation, and closing. They know what the candidate is thinking because they have been in regular communication throughout the process.
What your role looks like
Bringing on an embedded recruiter does not mean you are completely out of the loop. You still own the final hiring decisions. But your involvement changes dramatically:
Before: You spent hours sourcing, screening, scheduling, following up, and negotiating. Maybe 15 to 20 hours per week on recruiting.
After: You spend 2 to 4 hours per week on recruiting: conducting final-round interviews, providing feedback, and making decisions. Everything else is handled.
The recruiter becomes the engine. You stay in the driver's seat.
Realistic expectations
An embedded recruiter will not fill every role in week one. Recruiting is a pipeline business, and pipelines take time to build. Here are some realistic benchmarks:
First qualified candidates presented: 1 to 2 weeks after kickoff. First interview with the hiring manager: 2 to 3 weeks. First offer extended: 4 to 6 weeks (varies by role difficulty). Steady flow of candidates: by week 3 to 4.
If you have been trying to fill a role for three months on your own and an embedded recruiter presents strong candidates in two weeks, that is the value proposition in action. Not magic. Just dedicated focus and expertise.
How to set the engagement up for success
The startups that get the most out of an embedded recruiting partnership do a few things consistently:
They are responsive. When the recruiter sends candidates, they review and provide feedback within 24 to 48 hours. Delays on the client side are the number one killer of recruiting momentum.
They are honest about priorities. If a role becomes less urgent, they say so. If the requirements change, they communicate that immediately. The recruiter can only be effective with accurate information.
They trust the process. Embedded recruiting works best when the recruiter has the autonomy to run the process. Micromanaging every outreach message or second-guessing every screening decision slows things down without improving outcomes.
The best partnerships feel like an extension of your team, because that is exactly what they are.